Thursday, April 14, 2005

Sunflower Quilt

I started this quilt way back in January at a Phil Beaver workshop at Road to California. I am farther along on the stitching than these pictures show, but I am still finishing up. I am going to trim the first backing and batt and then do a pillow case finish with plain black before I finish the quilting. I enjoyed this class tremendously, although Phil seemed a little miffed that I didn't want to use his pattern or quilt in neat lines inside the shapes. He actually told me he thought my quilt would look like "something you got at Wal-Mart" if I didn't quilt it his way. I should probably title this "My Wal-Mart Quilt."

To me, it still looks quite a bit like what everyone else did, so I'm not sure you can call it art. (So, am I right in thinking that workshop pieces are not original enough to be called art IF everyone is working on pretty much the same thing?) I loved learning the technique, though, which is the whole point of a workshop. Now, here's the really great thing about quilt art...if it's really and truly original and yours, then you can show it in a quilt show or in an art venue. If it's a workshop piece, you can still show it at the quilt show. Right?

9 comments:

I am taking his class at our guild in June. I want to paint fabrics, but I don't want to make a sunflower quilt. Do you think I can get away with it? Your sunflowers are beautiful even if they look like others.

Thank you. I don't know how much freedom you can get, maybe you can handle him better than I did. The fabric painting is OH SO MUCH FUN and totally worth it, so please don't let my remarks spoil it for you. Jen

I'm sorry, but I think that's a low-down dirty remark to say to someone at a workshop, if you don't do it my way it'll look like you got it Walmart! The funny thing is, I never heard of the guy and haven't seen anything from any of the workshops, so your quilt looks to me like an original, beautiful piece of art. I guess that just goes to show you that perception is all in the context of what you know or don't know!

I've found that I don't feel like what I make in workshops is really MINE. It's ____ that I made in so-and-so's class. But I love learning new techniques. So now I make a quickie charity quilt, a baby quilt for one of my umpteen nieces and nephews (never marry a man with 12 brothers and sisters eve if he's very very sweet... just kidding) or just samples.

That said, and realizing that I , too, have never heard of this rude Phil Beaver, I love your sunflowers! The colors are terrific and I especially like the background color. I might have to make a new jacket using those colors... unless you (or Phil Beaver) have serious objections!

Phil Beaver is up the road from me in Indiana...I've never taken his workshop but I did purchase one of the sunflower quilt patterns before I knew I didn't like working with patterns...I have about 4 or 5 patterns and had good intentions but it ain't happened yet...Seeing your sunflower quilt makes me want to try the pattern though...it would make a nice gift.

Altho we have never met, Phil Beaver is a big deal in the midwest, and now he is getting around to lots of other teaching venues, so expect to see more Phil quilts out there. Since I know his work, I immediately recognized his style in your sunflower piece. I am amazed at how huge you are making this 'workshop' piece. You have the technique down pat, and that is more than enough to expect from a workshop. I would enter it in local shows, but be prepared to hear whispers of 'that looks like a Phil Beaver workshop quilt'. AS for entering it nationally, I wouldn't unless you want to be known as a Phil Beaver groupie. When I teach a workshop I am hoping to instill the concepts of the class, not the style of the project so much. Hopefully once the student has taken a class from me, they understand fusing and finishing better, but must still come up with their own ideas for future work. BTW, looking at the fabric you painted really makes me drool!

Hi, I realize this is a very old blog post but it is new to me and I wanted to give my two cents worth about the Phil beaver workshops I attended. Yes I did attend more than one. The second one we learned fabric painting and therefore we had our own individual fabric to work with. That alone was the funnest part and well worth the money. but like you, i found him to be a little condescending when people didn't want to do everything exactly as he does it - i.e. like the quilting lines etc. when someone wanted to go outside the box and use their own design and their own mind he told them things such as the Walmart quip. I have learned, unfortunately, that Phil suffered a massive stroke in 2010 or 2011 and has lost his ability to speak and is no longer able to do his art. he really was a beautiful art quilter. I think I just might have to finish the quilt I started in his workshop to honor him and his sunflower quilting :)